A.Word.A.Day--vaward

[Middle English, variant of va(u)mwarde, vantward, aphetic for avantward from
Anglo-French avantwarde, equivalent to avant + warde from Old English weard
ward.]

"If Sir John Fastolfe had not play'd the coward:
He, being in the vaward, placed behind
With purpose to relieve and follow them,
Cowardly fled, not having struck one stroke."
William Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Part I: Act I, Scene I.

This week's theme: words that sprout other words when beheaded.

X-Bonus

Strange that creatures without backbones have the hardest shells. -Khalil
Gibran (1883-1931) [Sand and Foam]